A Study of the Characteristics of Microorganisms for Effective Degradation of Marine Oil Spills

Four microorganism strains were isolated from coastal petroleum-polluted soil and sand samples of Bohai Sea oilfield; they were found to degrade marine oil spills effectively. The experimental results show that the degradation efficiency of crude oil with these four strains (XT-4, SZ-1-25, B-4-9, BS-3-12) is 95.97%, 96.01%, 97.99% and 98.99%, respectively, in their optimum conditions. The characteristics of bacterial biodegradation are investigated. The simulation biotreatment of oil-contaminated beach sand, with an initial oil content of 5,664mg/kg-dry-sand, shows that the residual oil content is 2,700 mg/kg-dry-sand and 2,679 mg/kg-dry-sand after 170 days' treatment with two bacteria (B-4-9, BS-3-12), respectively.